In the 2000s, Pascal Bataille and Laurent Fontaine were the kings of the PAF. Successful animators of Only the truth matters, a show now relaunched on C8 and which achieved stratospheric audience scores on TF1, they were also the producers and amassed a tidy fortune. The two businessmen were above all at the head of a very successful production company, through which they produced another successful show: The Cauet Method. For nearly ten years, Bataille and Fontaine shone, and touched the stars, amassing a colossal fortune. But the betrayal of Cauet, who left them to join TF1, was fatal to them, and the two men had to suddenly liquidate their businessesas told frankly by Laurent Fontaine at Cyril Hanouna.
Chronicler of
Facing Hanouna
this Saturday March 9, 2024, Laurent Fontaine revealed the immense fortune he had accumulated when he was boss of his own production company with Pascal Bataille. Both men won at the time up to 27 million euros in annual turnoverbut this significant sum melted like snow in the sun after a takeover which did not turn out to be as successful as they imagined: “We bought a company called VM, and which partly belonged to Mac Lesggy, and there wasn’t much in it… And we got screwed a bit, we can say that”. One bad news led to another, the departure of Sébastien Cauet was a knife in the back which led them to suddenly have to “(fire) around a hundred people” between 2008 and 2009, seeing their turnover divided by 6.
“We had to liquidate our affairs”, Mac Lesggy and Cauet responsible?
“It came down in a very brutal way. In the space of a year, we had to fire around a hundred people, and There you go. We wanted to diversify, we were especially very single-client with TF1, with Cauet and Only the truth counts. And it’s never good to depend on just one customer.” explained Laurent Fontaine, who also had to face a third problem: the betrayal of Mac Lesggy. The host of‘E=M6
refused to sign with them, and left them at the last minute, thus putting them in a dramatic financial situation: “Mac Lesggy failed us, he said: I don’t want to associate with Bataille and Fontaine, he liked us, but there you go, I think that M6 at the time (…) had made a lot of pressure so that he does not come and join us”.
Reacting to Sébastien Cauet’s betrayal, Laurent Fontaine could not help but point out that the choice made by his former employee proved devastating for his career, since he was sacked by TF1 after only three years: “After three years of success, (he) told us: I am going to sign directly with TF1… With the success we know behind all that, since everything stopped afterwards.” Indeed, at the end of The Cauet MethodTF1 had a hard time renewing its confidence in Sébastien Cauet, and the few programs that the channel entrusted to the host (Spin Merry-Go-Round And It’s going to be Cauet) turned out to be dismal failures.
He had to sell everything, but is now happy
Although he is no longer the owner, Laurent Fontaine remains no less happy today. Far from the financial worries he encountered until 2014, the media man is now a tenant in Paris, and no longer has any vacation: “At the time, I had things, I had a house in Spain (…) plus my house in Paris (…) In 2009-2010 (…) I had to sell most of my belongings. It’s been better since 2014, but I haven’t bought a house. I do not own my apartment in Paris, I am a tenant. My wife owns hers, but I don’t own mine.” he revealed, applauded by Cyril Hanouna for his frankness.